Championship Saturday notebook from Nebraska state wrestling

There are no sick days when a fourth state wrestling title is within reach.

Had it been any other week, James Burks wouldn’t have wrestled the way he was feeling from a stomach bug that hit him Wednesday.

“I was a little nervous, but I was going to go no matter what,” the Omaha Burke senior said Saturday after becoming the first of two four-time state champions, along with Tyler Pawloski of Class D Pleasanton.

“It made me super tired. I’d get through the first and second period, and by third period I was gassed. I tried to keep it out of sight from my opponents.”

His closest match was in Thursday’s quarterfinals, holding on for a 9-8 victory. Saturday’s win was 13-1 over Columbus senior Avery McMeekin.

Pawloski, who missed the first month of his senior season with a torn ACL from last summer, watched it while awaiting his final.

“After the Parade of Champions, I came back here (in the staging area) and walked around, trying to mellow out because I knew I’d be the last one up. I knew it would be hours,” he said. “When the 160 came up, I came out just trying to get a feel of what it would be like. (Burks) won and everyone erupted, and I was trying to get a sense of what it would be like.

“But you don’t actually know until you get out there.”

Pawloski ground out a 9-5 decision at 132 pounds over Neligh-Oakdale’s Andrew Herley, whom he had beaten twice in the past month. Pawloski became the state’s 32nd four-time champ.

In some of the tightest team races in years, Millard South won Class A for the fourth time in five years, and Grand Island Northwest won Class B and Plainview won Class D for the first time. Valentine had clinched its third title in a row prior to the finals at the CHI Health Center, which drew 10,069.

Millard South clinched its crown with Isaac Trumble’s first-period pin of Trajen Linear of Papillion-La Vista South at 182. Trumble was the Patriots’ only champion in four finals.

Northwest and Omaha Skutt were tied after Friday in Class B, but Northwest got to the finals with a nine-point lead on the seven-time defending champs. Skutt won two of its four matches, Nick Stoltenberg at 138 and Eli Jansen at 182 for a tie that lasted until Grady Griess — the Vikings’ only champion — avenged last year’s finals loss to Wahoo’s Sam Kolterman 12-3 at 195. Each team lost its last final.

Valentine had a pair of three-time winners, Caleb Long at 160 and junior Gage Krolikowski at 132. Chris Williams won at 113 to help the Badgers outscore runner-up Broken Bow 165-129.

Plainview never let Fremont Bergan have the lead in the finals, though the Knights were within a point twice. The Pirates had two champions, Eli Lanham at 106 and Nate Christensen at 126.

After his fourth title, Burks was headed for DJ’s Dugout for chicken strips and fries and to “drink a lot of pop.”

He is the second wrestler in Class A with 60 wins in a season, following Colton Wolfe of Columbus two years ago. He leaves for Northern State with a state-record 216 career wins.

Burke coach Wes Boehm said Burks wrestled perhaps his smartest match of the tournament against McMeekin.

“He slowed the pace down, only took shots that were there and not try to force anything stupid,” Boehm said. “That’s the type of kid he is and why he’s a four-timer.”

Isaac Trumble won an individual title, and top-ranked Millard South got more than half of its points from freshmen and sophomores to win the Class A team title Saturday.

Trumble, nicknamed “The Punisher,” pinned Papillion-La Vista South’s Trajen Linear in the first period of their 182-pound final, a meeting between unbeaten juniors.

It avenged a loss in last year’s final, and was Millard South’s lone win in four title matches. It also clinched the team crown for the Patriots, who saw a string of three straight Class A titles end a year ago.

Seniors James Burks (160 pounds) and Dillyn Miller (195) were joined by junior Jakason Burks (120) in winning back-to-back titles to give Burke three champions for the second time in program history. James Burks won his fourth as the Bulldogs finished second for the third time in eight seasons.

Columbus split championship matches, getting a title from junior Kasten Grape at 220 pounds. It was the Discoverers’ first top-two finish since 2001.

East had winners in Mayfield and senior Chance Fry, who became Lincoln’s first three-time champion with his title at 152.

Sitting in 11th place after the first day of the state championships, the Vikings appeared to have little chance of winning their first wrestling championship.

But Northwest got the job done.

Led by Grady Griess’ 195-pound title, the Vikings knocked off seven-time defending champ Omaha Skutt 96-91. It’s the second time in 22 years that the SkyHawks didn’t win the Class B title.

“I’m speechless,” Northwest coach Brian Sybrandts said. “It was just a great effort by our team.”

Griess helped in a big way. After falling to Wahoo’s Sam Kolterman in last year’s 195 final, the second-rated Griess reversed fortunes with a 12-3 major decision.

“I have no words,” Griess said. “I can’t believe what just happened.”

Kolterman was No. 1 and 43-0 entering the match, but Griess gained the upper hand when he locked him in a cradle and put him on his back for three near-fall points and a 7-3 lead. He did it again in the second period.

Griess said the first cradle gave him confidence.

“I figured I would win it at that point, even though I had two periods left,” Griess said. “I just kept going at it.”

Sybrandts said he’s happy to see Griess get the title after coming up short against Kolterman last year.

“I told him before the match that nobody believes in us but us, and nobody’s giving us a shot to win this so let’s go get this,” Sybrandts said. “He was on a mission and attacking from all angles. It was just amazing. I couldn’t be prouder for him.”

Griess’ win came the round after Skutt rallied to catch the Vikings at 91 on wins by Nick Stoltenberg at 138 and Eli Jansen at 182.

Still, the SkyHawks had one more chance. A pin or technical fall by junior Caleb Lazure, who was a state champion as a freshman, would be enough to pull out a win. Instead, North Platte’s Darian Diaz won the 126 final 10-3.

“Knowing that I gave us the lead at that point was great,” Griess said.

Grady Arends couldn’t come up with the same success for Northwest as he fell 10-5 to Quinton Chavez of Gering at 106. Arends had about locked up the title for Northwest earlier when he threw Chavez to his back in the second period, but Chavez got out of it and scored a reversal.

“He really battled out there,” Sybrandts said. “I thought we had a shot to pin him there, but Chavez got out of it. I was so happy to see him compete for a state title.”

A big factor, after Northwest and Skutt shared the lead going into Saturday, was the consolation rounds. After falling in his first-round match, Cooper Kiser had four straight pins before finishing fourth at 220 pounds. Collin Quandt defeated Gering’s Nate Rocheleau 5-4 in the third-place match at 126 after falling to Rocheleau in the quarterfinals.

“I can’t say enough about what those two kids did for us,” Sybrandts said. “Those wins were just absolutely huge for us.”

Griess said winning an individual and team title was a great way to end the season.

“There’s no better feeling,” Griess said. “It was a total team effort and we just worked hard for this.”

Skutt passed Hastings for its runner-up trophy. The Tigers had one finalist, 170-pound champion Damen Pape, and finished third with 88½ points.

Class C: Rule of three for Valentine as Badgers claim third consecutive team title

Good things came in threes for Valentine on Saturday.

The Badgers rolled to their third consecutive team title, scoring 165 points to finish comfortably ahead of runner-up Broken Bow’s 129. Valentine is the first team in Class C to win three straight titles.

“It’s amazing to do this with my brothers before I move on,” Valentine senior Caleb Long said.

Long, who won the 160-pound championship, was one of the Badgers’ three individual champs. Junior Gage Krolikowski (132) and sophomore Chris Williams (113) also won titles.

Long and Krolikowski both became three-time champions. The Badgers had another three-time champion, Jordan Kelber, graduate last year.

Long never thought he’d be in that company.

“If you would have told me after my freshman year that I just finished an undefeated senior season, I’d be laughing at you,” Long said. “I had such a rough go (as a freshman) that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to wrestle anymore.”

Long qualified for state as a freshman, but went 0-2 in Omaha. He finished that year with 10 losses. He had a total of six losses the past three years.

“It’s amazing what offseason work can turn around,” said Long, who will wrestle for Iowa State next year.

Long won his third title with a 15-6 major decision over Dylan Vodicka of David City. Long built a 12-3 lead through two periods.

Williams, a junior who can become a three-time champ next season, pulled out a 7-5 victory over David City Aquinas’ Zach Zitek, who entered Saturday unbeaten.

Then in the final Class C match of the day, Krolikowski picked up a 7-1 win over Milford’s Jeaven Scdoris. That gave the junior a 111-1 career record and three titles.

He finished his match in time to watch the final seconds of Pleasanton’s Tyler Pawolski’s match as he became a four-time champion.

Krolikowski just smiled when asked if that could be him next February. For now, he’ll just enjoy his third individual title and his team’s third.

“We just want to come down here and wrestle like we do in the practice room,” Krolikowski said. “We have great practice partners.”

Class D: First team state wrestling title worth the wait for top-ranked Plainview

Good things came to those who waited in Class D.

Top-ranked Plainview had to sweat out its first team title, sealing it only when podium newbie Fremont Bergan was upset in the second-to-last match of the day.

“It was stressful all the way through,” said Pirates coach Dean Boyer, whose team edged Bergan 127-122.

His team won a pair of golds in three championship matches Saturday and took home seven medals among its eight qualifiers.

But second-ranked Bergan, which had never had a top-three finish at the state tournament, didn’t go down without a fight.

The Knights won titles with Jacob Johnson (145 pounds), Peyton Cone (220) and Caden Arps (113) to pull within five points of Plainview and had returning state champion Zach Hamilton ready to write a storybook ending.

But Central Valley’s Shaye Wood had other plans. The fourth-ranked Wood stunned No. 1 Hamilton 9-3 in their 120-pound final, clinching things for the Pirates.

“It was close,” Boyer said. “Bergan, you have to give them credit. They wrestled a tremendous tournament, too. It was just back and forth. I told the boys before we came down here that I thought we could win by a slim margin. And it was slim.”

Plainview had winners in sophomore Eli Lanham at 106 and junior Nate Christensen at 126.

Lanham, ranked second, handed No. 1 Logan Russell of High Plains the first loss of his senior season, with a 4-2 decision. Christensen followed with a 6-5 decision over Amherst’s Quentyn Frank in a battle of the top two wrestlers at 126.

“We just had tremendous toughness kid after kid,” Boyer said.

For a Bergan program that had fewer wrestlers out for the sport last year than they had qualifiers this year, it was a successful weekend. Knights coach Curtis Marolf called winning a trophy, not to mention five medals, at state a “delusional dream” not that long ago.

“It’s tough because we end with a loss,” Marolf said. “But for our school, this is historic. To have a group of kids that worked as hard as they did to put us in this position, it’s a testament to these guys that we have something like this to take back with us.”

It was the second straight third-place showing for fifth-ranked Mullen, which had five medalists.

Three-timers were close to being four-timers

Chance Fry of Lincoln East at A 152, Caleb Long of Valentine at C 160, Joseph Reimers of David City Aquinas at C 182 and Phillip Moomey of Kearney at A 132 were seniors who won their third titles.

How close was each to a fourth?

Reiners was third as a freshman, Fry fourth, Moomey fifth. Long went 0-2 his first year.

Fry and Moomey were together at 113. Fry lost to champion Jack Huffman of Millard West 8-4 in the semifinals. Moomey came through wrestlebacks after losing 8-4 to runner-up Jack Stogdill of Millard North in the first round.

Cowling lost his mother to cancer as a freshman. She was a yeller at tournaments, he said, at times even hitting the bleacher seat next to her.. Saturday would have been no different.

“She would have been smiling more than I am right now,” Cowling said.

Siblings split in finals

The Canoyer family went 1-1 in Saturday’s Class B finals.

Senior Kaleb Canoyer broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with an escape to edge York’s Harrison Gocke at 152. He became Waverly’s first state wrestling champion since 2006.

He also was a 1,300-yard rusher for the football team, which lost to eventual state champ Omaha Skutt in the semifinals.

His brother, sophomore Evan, lost a 5-2 decision to unbeaten Damen Pape of Hastings in the 170 final. Pape led 2-1 after two periods before picking up an escape and takedown to secure the win.

3 silvers for Waddington

Wood River’s Evan Waddington was a four-time state finalist, but he settled for his third runner-up finish.

After winning the Class C 138-pound title last season, Waddington faced Battle Creek senior Damien Kersten in Saturday’s final. Kersten, a runner-up at 126 as a junior, took a 4-1 lead after two periods and capped his 7-1 victory with a takedown in the final seconds.

Waddington finished his high school career 197-6 — three of those losses came in the state finals.

Bits and pieces

Plainview’s Nate Christensen rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the third period to edge Amherst’s Quentyn Frank 6-5 in the 126-pound Class D final. That meant for the first time since 2007, Amherst didn’t have an individual state champ. The Broncos had won seven straight Class D team titles to start this decade.

Arlington ended a long state title drought Saturday. And nearly got to celebrate twice. The Eagles hadn’t had an individual state champion since 1997 before junior Remington Gay won the Class C 220-pound final with a 6-2 win over Jon Merten of Boone Central/Newman Grove.Arlington also had a finalist at 120 in sophomore Hunter Gilmore. Gilmore and Battle Creek’s Caydon McCracken were tied 1-1 after three periods then McCracken then recorded a takedown in extra time.

Winnebago’s young program took another step when Prosper Gilpin became its first to be in the finals and walk in the Parade of Champions. The 285-pounder gave future Nebraska walk-on lineman Riley Moses everything he wanted before falling 2-1.